Administration Details Effects of Prayer Amendment

If the constitutional amendment now pending in the Senate to return
prayer to the public schools were to become law, school officials would
be permitted either to lead students in prayer or to offer a moment for
silent meditation, a Reagan Administration official said last week.

Edward C. Schmults, the deputy attorney general, outlined the
practical application of permitting prayer in public schools in a
hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering the
Administration-supported amendment proposal.

School prayer also was debated on the Senate floor last week, as
Senator Jesse A. Helms, Republican of North Carolina, sought passage of
a measure that would withdraw the Supreme Court from jurisdiction over
court cases involving prayer in the schools.

The Senator lost a test vote on Wednesday, when the Senate defeated,
by a vote of 59 to 38, Senator Helms's attempt to prevent liberal
Senators from watering down his proposal. The vote came on a proposal
by Republican Senator Lowell P. Weicker of Connecticut that reaffirmed
the authority of the federal courts to enforce the Constitution. Senate
debate on the Helms proposal was expected to continue throughout the
week.

School board-sanctioned prayer has been outlawed in the public
schools since 1962, when the Supreme Court, in Engel v. Vitale, struck
down a New York state law that required students to recite a
state-approved ecumenical prayer.

Speculation on Amendment

Much speculation had surrounded the Administration's constitutional
amendment proposal since President Reagan unveiled the measure last
May. The Administration has repeatedly emphasized that the amendment
would permit "voluntary" prayer only--a statement that has raised
questions about the responsibilities of school officials in
implementing the law.

According to Mr. Schmults, the amendment "would not require school
authorities to allow or participate in prayer, but would permit them to
do so if desired. Group prayers could be led by teachers or students.
Alternatively, if the school authorities decided not to take part in a
group prayer, they would be free to accommodate the students' interest
in individual or group prayer by permitting, for example, prayer
meetings outside of class hours. ...

"If the school authorities choose to participate in a group
prayer,'' he continued, "the selection of the particular
prayer--subject, of course, to the right of those not wishing to
participate not to do so--would be left to the judgment of local
communities, based on a consideration of such factors as the desires of
parents, students, and teachers, and other community interests
consistent with applicable state law."

The amendment, which must pass both chambers of the Congress and be
ratified by 38 states to become law, declares simply that "Nothing in
this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group
prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall
be required by the United States or by any state to participate in
prayer."

Mr. Schmults said the effect of the amendment would be to "restore
the practice maintained throughout most of this nation's history, in
which the determination of the appropriate circumstances of prayer was
made by state and local authorities."

During the hearing, Representative Stephen L. Neal, Democrat of
North Carolina, testified that he supported the idea of prayer in the
schools, but only in the form of a silent period of meditation. "I
don't think it should be up to the school systems as to how students
fill those periods of silence," he said.

Senator John P. East, Republican of North Carolina, argued that "it
is not clear" whether a meditation period would be found legal under
current law. "The lower federal courts are already crowding into this
area. An amendment would clear up this matter and prevent the courts
from entering further into this area," he said.

Representative Neal responded that the proposed amendment could
permit school officials to approve a prayer for use in the schools, an
action he said he was opposed to. "Schoolteachers, school
administrators have no training in writing prayers," he said.

But the Senator said he believed that a constitutional amendment was
necessary to alleviate what he termed "the chilling effect" on school
officials, who eliminated even silent periods of meditation in light of
the Supreme Court's ruling.

Senator East contended that only by clarifying the right of school
or state officials to sanction prayer--either silent meditation or
spoken prayer led by teachers or students--could the Congress prevent
the establishment of "state-enforced secular humanism," which he said
would mean that "you cannot have any reference to theism in the schools
at all."

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